BOSTON, MA – It has been discovered that Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley share an old Irish king as their ancestor!

BOSTON, MA – It has been discovered that Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley share an old Irish king as their ancestor!

Gates and Crowley are currently the center of a national debate over racial profiling, after Crowley mistook Gates for breaking into his own home. While the two are at odds over what happened the day of Gates’ arrest, it has now been revealed that they do share one thing in common: ancestry!

Gates hosted a PBS series on African American ancestry last year, in which he discovered that he is in fact descended from an Irish immigrant and a black slave. Gates then traveled to Ireland, where, through testing, he learned that he shares 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages.

It is now being revealed that Sgt. Crowley is also descended from the same Irish king! Much like Genghis Khan, Niall had many offspring, which has led to at least 3 million people worldwide also being descended from the warlord, according to geneticists.

So who was this king?

Niall is of the Ui Neill families that ruled over Ireland from the 6th to the 10th century. It was written that he ascended to the throne in 378 AD and died 405 AD, however modern historians now believe he could have lived 50 years later. His history is murky, as his successes have been exaggerated as time went on.

He did conduct numerous vicious raids on the coasts of England and France, most notably capturing and enslaving the boy would eventually become Saint Patrick. It is presumed through this raping and pillaging that Niall was able to produce so many offspring that now pocket the globe.

Niall is responsible for the very common Irish surname “O’Neill”, which literally means “descendant son of Niall,” and one in 12 men in Ireland have the same DNA as the Irish ruler.